Amazing Architecture

Wroclaw City Stadium is being currently constructed in Maslice district (on the north-west side of the  city). This building will contain about 42.000 seats and interesting look. Stadium will hold three group games of the tournament. For the needs of Euro 2012 the stadium will contain exactly 41737 seats and for other games (including Polish league) 42871. There will be 330 urinals, 125 men toilets and 250 women toilets. Purchasing food will be available on two 290 meters long promenades. First ridge of seats will be placed at height of one meter and the whole building height will be at 39 meters above  ground.

Wroclaw City Stadium final look. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The characteristic roof look is based on the outer net undone between steel rings around the stadium.

Stadium cross-section. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The stadium will be fully capable of hosting big international events, concerts and games. This innovative construction will be surely one of the most beautiful stadiums on this tournament. Just check some samples of proposed night ilumination:

Wroclaw City Stadium at night. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Currently the building is being constructed. The whole enterprise started in 2009 and is supposed to end ad mid 2011.

Wroclaw City Stadium late 2009. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Wroclaw City Stadium late 2009. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

This arena was built in 1923, but was re-builded in 1941, 1966, 1978, 1999 and is being reconstructed again, to fit hard UEFA regulations. One of the most important investments in this reconstruction is totally new roof construction. Ukrainians claim they will finish this re-build in 2011 which is reasonable term. After the reconstruction the object will contain about 73.000 seats. The stadium is supposed to host group matches, quarter-final and the final game.

Kiev Olympic Stadium final look

The rebuild turned a little bit slow because of the economic problems in recent years (Ukraine is facing huge recession) and corruption problems (large amount of government’s money just disappeared without a trace). But this reconstruction is not easy, and it is visible that workers are still on the site, so I think we can be optimistic about this one. Ukraine must face worse problems than stadiums. The whole logistic base of the country is still in mess. There are not so many hotels, and existing are mostly not comparative to UEFA standards. The same things could be told about the roads (Poland have also problem with those, many investments are being forced lately) and the whole communication system. I hope that Ukraine will manage to fix all those problems and the tournament will be hosted in four Ukrainian cities.

Reconstruction photos:

Kiev Olympic Stadium reconstruction. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Kiev Olympic Stadium reconstruction. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Kiev Olympic Stadium reconstruction. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Kiev Olympic Stadium reconstruction. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Kiev Olympic Stadium reconstruction. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Today we begin a new cycle of interesting new buildings being constructed especially for soccer Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Poznan City Stadium. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The first stadium we will check is the Poznan City Stadium (used by the local club Lech Poznan). This arena was first placed in 1980. The first version of this stadium had a shape of a horseshoe and had a part opened to the city from the north side of the pitch. After installation of chairs and refitting existing tribunes the stadium could hold up to 25.000 people. I late ’90s city council decided to build the missing part of the stadium, giving the whole object new shape. This one tribune (called “The Fourth”) contains about 8.500 seats and will remain as an integral part of the new stadium. Everything else is brand new. The picture below presents the old view of the stadium (with characteristic four spotlight towers) taken from The Fourth:

Poznan City Stadium - an old view. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The old tribunes were dismantled and new ones are being currently built. New stadium will contain 41.018 seats during Euro 2012 tournament and 45.830 seats after this event. The whole stadium will be 213 meters long, 220 meters wide and 56 meters high (this is approximately the height of 18-floor building). The most interesting part of the whole stadium will be the roof (currently being constructed). This construction will be based on two main frameworks, each at weight of 1.400 tons and two auxiliary elements, each weight 450 tons. The movie below is taken from Skyscrapercity forums and shows the auxiliary element no. 1 placed on two main frameworks:

The whole stadium construction was supposed to be finished on may 2010, but this time limit will be probably shifted to autumn 2010. This is still very reasonable term – two years before the tournament starts.

Other construction pictures:

One of stadium main frameworks at night. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

One of two auxiliary roof elements. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

View on two main frameworks and The Fourth (smallest tribune). Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.